Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus that installs a printer driver module, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
There has been known a printing system in which print processing is performed by a personal computer (PC) as an information processing apparatus and an MFP as an image processing apparatus. In print processing performed by the printing system, the PC generates print data, and transmits the generated print data to the MFP, and the MFP performs printing based on the received print data. To perform the above-mentioned print processing by the printing system, a printer driver module which is compatible with the MFP connected to the PC is installed in the PC (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2014-44745). The printer driver module incorporates a user interface module for enabling a user to make settings for printing, a print data generation module for generating print data based on the settings, and so forth. Further, a version 3 printer driver module (hereinafter simply referred to as the “V3 driver”) compatible with the conventional OS (Operating System) can newly incorporate, in addition to the above-mentioned modules, a communication control module for controlling data communication between the PC and the MFP. The communication control module performs transmission control processing for controlling transmission of print data from the PC to the MFP, and execution status acquisition processing for acquiring data concerning the execution status of printing of print data from the MFP, to the PC.
In recent years, as a printer driver module compatible with Windows 8 (registered trademark) and subsequent versions of the OS, a version 4 printer driver module (hereinafter simply referred to as the “V4 driver”) has been developed, and a shift from the V3 driver to the V4 driver is widely underway. Incidentally, the V4 driver cannot incorporate a module for function expansion, such as the communication control module. Therefore, the PC of which the V3 driver is simply updated to the V4 driver cannot perform processing corresponding to transmission control processing and execution status acquisition processing conventionally capable of being performed by the V3 driver. More specifically, in the printing system, when the printer driver module of the PC is changed to the V4 driver, it is impossible to perform printing based on the print data generated by the PC, or display the printing execution status. To eliminate this inconvenience, in a case where the V4 driver is installed in the PC, a virtual device module for the MFP is installed in the PC to thereby enable data communication between the PC and the MFP using the virtual device module. By installing the virtual device module, even the PC having the V4 driver installed therein can perform processing corresponding to transmission control processing and execution status acquisition processing performed by the V3 driver.
However, the PC having the V4 driver installed therein necessitates the virtual device module in some cases, but does not necessitate the virtual device module in the other cases. For example, in a case where the PC is directly connected to the MFP, the PC directly performs data communication of print data and data concerning the execution status of the print data, with the MFP, and hence the virtual device module is required for the PC. On the other hand, in a where the PC is not directly connected to the MFP, for example, in a case where the PC is connected to the MFP via a server, the PC does not directly perform data communication with the MFP, and hence if the server can perform data communication with the MFP, the virtual device module is not required for the PC. Further, when installing the virtual device module, a user is required to make settings, including the setting of a port number used for data communication between the PC and the MFP. That is, for the PC having the V4 driver installed therein, the necessity of installation of the virtual device module and the necessity of making settings are different depending on a situation. Therefore, it is difficult for the user to install the desired module.